setback of the day, with Letstrayed trailing along behind him,
looking like a flour-sack that had been stepped on! The latter sat
down quietly, without a word, and Holmes corroborated my deductions.
He said Letstrayed told him he didn't know a thing about what had
taken place until we untied the ropes from him; for he had fallen
asleep in his too comfortable position on the pile of hay, and had not
been awakened even by the shots.

"I'm so mad I could chew nails," said Holmes. "The only thing I can do
now is to send a telegram down to the village to be dispatched to the
authorities in all the surrounding towns, asking them to apprehend
Budd when he shows up. Can your secretary here be trusted to send the
messages right, Earl?"

He sized up the bald-headed Thorneycroft with a critical eye, as he
spoke, and suddenly changed his mind.

"No. I'll go down to Hedge-gutheridge myself and send the telegrams.
Then I know it'll be done right, without a third balling-up. Ta, ta!
I'll be back in half an hour."

And my erratic partner was out of the building before we hardly knew
what had happened.

At a quarter of six he returned, somewhat out of breath, and announced
that we might as well sit down to dinner, since he would not resume
operations until morning. The Earl quietly accepted his tacit
assumption of mastery of the castle, since he recognized by this time
that Hemlock Holmes simply had to have his own way while on a case, or
else he wouldn't play,--that's all!

The dinner as prepared by Louis La Violette,--and served by Joe
Harrigan the butler,--was fully as scrumptious and all to the mustard
as the one we had partaken of the evening before, and so was the wine
served afterwards. We passed the evening in the library smoking and
swapping lies, while Her Ladyship the Countess pleaded a severe
headache and remained in her room, her dinner being served up there by
her maid. At about half-past ten we retired; that is, the others
retired, but Holmes grabbed me by the arm as soon as we had entered
our room upstairs, and whispered:

"I'm going to pull off something now, Watson. We'll have to wait here
until they're all asleep, as Letstrayed was out in the hayloft this
afternoon, and then I'm going to get some evidence."

CHAPTER IX

Well, the two of us sat up in our room for an hour, and when his watch
pointed to half-past eleven, my partner said:

"Hist! Here we go now. Take off your shoes."

Grumblingly I